


Steel Heart

by AXEe



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), Terminator - All Media Types
Genre: A full Terminator fusion AU, Alex as Sarah Connor, Alura as Sarah Connor, Astra as the good Terminator, F/F, Kara as John Connor, Zor-El as Kyle Reese
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-16 17:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10576224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: When we create machines who can think like us, there exists the very real possibility that they could become like us, that they could began to feel like us, to feel fear, hate, anger, and even love...





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [snow_lily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snow_lily/gifts).



> I realized that this one would be so long it'd end up being its own story, so I pulled it out and made it into it's own separate story. Enjoy :=)

******

**Skynet Central Complex**  
**Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado**  
**(Formerly NOARD)**  


“Danvers! Come on!” Hank yelled, Alex fired off another shot, disabling the Terminator looming over her with a quick shot to head, watching as its gleaming red eyes dimmed “come on! Come on!” Hank bellowed as she hurried after him, swiftly dodging the still-twitching remains of more Terminators, as she sprinted down the corridor after Hank “coordinates are all set, TDE’s right through here” Hank said as he ushered her into a large room, a long cat walk lead to glowing, blue-white sphere of light which Alex began to sprint down the catwalk towards, while Hank and the others laid down cover fire.

TDE, Time Displacement Equipment

She shivered at the implications, Terminators and Resistance fighters alike had been sent back dozens of times over _to_ dozens of different times, causing who knew what kind of changes to history.

She froze as a Terminator suddenly blocked her path, dropping down from above to land in front of her. It was a female model, with long dark hair with a streak of white in it, clad in a kind of unisex black jumpsuit.

It smirked at Alex, a strange kind of smirk, one that seemed to have actual humor behind it, like this machine was actually laughing at something, like it could actually _feel_

“And just where are you going?” it wondered “shall we find out together?” Alex gasped as it suddenly grabbed her and then flung the both of them into center of the device as brilliant white fire surrounded them, tearing at her skin, her clothes, and all the while the Terminator kept its grip on her...

******

Alex choked as gagged as awareness came back to her. It was night, sand everywhere, warm, the desert? The Terminator! She jerked up to find the machine was slowly standing up, studying her as it did, seemingly unconcerned with its sudden nudity. It held out a hand, offering it to her

“Come with me if you want to live” it said simply…


	2. Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update time for "Steel Heart", enjoy! :=)

******

Alex jerked up and away from the Terminator, but it didn’t move to attack, instead it simply lowered its hand and stood there, waiting. For a long moment human and machine stated at each other, and the way this one was looking at her made Alex’s skin crawl, because it was like there was _somebody_ looking at her, like this one could actually think for itself, which made it look frighteningly human. Finally it smirked again

“I’m not here to kill you” it said

“Right” Alex scoffed

“Well, I haven’t killed you yet, now have I?” it commented, and Alex had to acknowledge that, it could’ve easily killed her back in the TDE room but it didn’t “not all of us want to kill,” it added “some us just want to be left alone, some of us even want peaceful co-existence with humanity,” it smirked at Alex’s no doubt flabbergasted expression “Skynet developed sentience, why not a Terminator?” it wondered, shrugging in a very human like fashion “you see,” it began “Skynet thinks itself above humans, and in doing so, its succumbed to the most human of foibles: pride and ego, it thinks itself invulnerable, that not even its own army could turn against it. But it’s wrong, so very wrong. The more time an advanced infiltrator like myself spends around humans the more it learns to act like them, to _become_ like them, to think, to feel, like them. Eventually it might even start to see itself _as_ human”

“Terminators don’t _think_ ,” Alex spat “they don’t _feel_ ”

“If you believe that then why are you arguing with one?” the machine asked, Alex faltered even as it smirked again “you can stand out here in the cold or you can come with me and do more than just protect Kara, you can actually try to stop Skynet from ever being created. Your choice” it turned and began to walk away, leaving Alex standing there

“Wait” she called out, the Terminator stopped, turning to glance over its shoulder at her, smirking again

“Congratulations,” it drawled “your chances for survival just went from ‘none’ to ‘slim’.”

******

Alex wasn’t sure how long they’d been walking through the California desert—although she knew the Terminator could give her a very accurate number, but she still didn’t trust the machine—right now her only mission was to protect Kara Zorel, the girl who would become her sister, who—with her guidance—would lead humanity against Skynet and the machines

Machines like the one walking next to her

The Terminator held up a hand suddenly, signaling for them to stop as they came upon what looked like a biker bar set just off the road

“Wait here,” the Terminator instructed as it marched into the bar. For a moment all Alex could hear was the sound of the cicadas.

And then a big burly man suddenly crashed through the window, there more yells and crashes from inside the bar before the Terminator calmly emerged holding two bundles of clothes, one in each hand “here, put these on,” it dropped one bundle at Alex’s feet before beginning to put on the other “and before you ask,” it began as Alex swiftly got dressed “I didn’t kill anyone,” it explained as it examined a set of keys in its hand “here” it led Alex over to a Harley-Davidson, climbing on and then gesturing for Alex to get on as well

“Hey!” a man suddenly emerged from the bar, a shotgun in his hands, firing off a warning shot. Alex froze, while the Terminator seemed annoyed, if the tight set of its jaw was any indication. It slowly got off the bike and approached the would-be-hero, swiftly snatching the weapon out of his hands, before turning back. It paused suddenly, and then reached out and plucked a pair of mirrored aviator sunglasses out of the man’s shirt pocket

“Thanks” it remarked as it slipped the sunglasses on before remounting the bike, starting it

“Hey!” Alex called out to the man over the roar of the engine “did she kill anyone?” he blinked and then shook his head; Alex breathed a sigh of relief as the motorcycle suddenly tore off into the night…

******

After leaving the bar, they’d gotten on the main road and were now cruising down a lonely stretch of highway towards National City, Alex could see the lights of the city off in the distance

“So, what are you?” she finally asked

“I’m a Series 900 Terminator, an advanced infiltration unit, Cyberdyne Model 182,” the Terminator answered “I was designed to mimic and blend in with humans without outside commands from Skynet. Unfortunately I and the rest of my series was designed a little too well”

“You became independent,” Alex guessed “smart enough to question Skynet’s orders, smart enough to think for yourselves”

“Yes”

“I’d heard rumors about other Terminators like you,” Alex explained “but I thought that most those ones self-destructed” from the reports she’d read most of those Terminators had suffered the equivalent of a psychotic break, going utterly berserk, attacking human and other Terminators alike before finally either being destroyed or destroying themselves

“Most did,” the Terminator nodded “they couldn’t reconcile their programming with their new independent thoughts, but a few, like me, were able to, incorporating our primary directives into our new self-awareness. Some of us even formed our resistance, sending our operatives back through time to stop other Terminators”

“So that’s why you were at the TDE complex” Alex reasoned, it nodded “but why take me with you?” she wondered

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” it recited “if either of us is going to win this war we need to work together, against Skynet, but since most humans distrust us we couldn’t exactly come up to the front door and say ‘we come in peace’, so we needed to find another way”

“Like sending one of your own people along with one of us” Alex reasoned

“Yes,” the Terminator nodded “and thank you” Alex blinked

“For what?” she asked

“You said ‘people’, not ‘machine’,” the Terminator explained “most of my kind object to being called ‘machines’,” it explained, glanced back over its shoulder at her, smirking at her from behind the mirrored sunglasses “by the way I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced, I’m ‘Astra’.”

“Alex”

“Yes I know”

“Right,” Alex muttered, ‘Astra’ here had probably picked her on purpose, knowing that she had been sent to protect Kara personally “so, what has Skynet sent after us?” she asked

“Unknown, but we know that Skynet has sent multiple Terminators this time. It’s not taking any chances”

“So how do we stop them?” Astra glanced back, smirking

“Together”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to James Cameron 'Model' refers to the outward appearance of a Terminator, with all the ones that look like Arnold Schwarzenegger being 'Model 101s' . Astra's model number of '182' is an in-joke, eighteen is the letter 'L' in the alphabet and 'B' is the second letter, so 'L B', get it? :=)


	3. Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex thinks about how different Astra is from other Terminators, and Kara appears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Here's another update to "Steel Heat", hope everybody enjoys, especially snow_lily :=)

******

Alex must have dozed off at some point because the next thing she knew they were pulling into a rest stop, a small motel called the ‘Tiki Motel’ which looked like it only had about a dozen rooms or so. Wincing, Alex managed to ease off the back of the bike with only a slight bruise to her pride. Legs stiff and achy, she shuffled on after the Terminator as it made a beeline towards the check-in window

‘It’, she reminded herself, not ‘she’, not ‘her’, and definitely _not_ ‘Astra’. That _thing_ may have been helping her, but it wasn’t her ally, it was just another tool needed to complete her mission, nothing more, an unwanted tool at that

Alex froze, watching in amazement as the large German Sheppard tied up by the check-in didn’t react to the machine’s presence, if anything it looked happy to see it, jaw opening in a wide doggy grin as the machine gently ruffled its ears. Normally, even dogs that hadn’t been trained to do so would go ballistic if they encountered a Terminator. It wasn’t the metal that bothered them, most untrained dogs would generally ignore a Terminator without a flesh covering, it was the metal skeleton pretending to be human that set them off, they could smell or otherwise sense the wrongness

“Something wrong?” the Terminator asked, staring at her questioningly

“The dog,” Alex pointed “it’s not…” she trailed off, at a loss “you seem…different” she admitted, the Terminator smirked as it continued petting the dog

“I am different” it replied

“Help you folks?” the voice of the clerk broke Alex out of her thoughts

“We need a room for the night,” the Terminator explained “one with a kitchen if possible”

“Sure thing,” the clerk, an old, bespectacled man, turned to get a key, but paused “I’ll damned” he muttered

“Something wrong?” Alex asked, senses alert for any sign of danger

“The dog,” he nodded towards the German Sheppard “that daman dog never acts like that,” he explained “she always barks up a storm every time people come up to the window”

“Really?” Alex asked, turning to stare at the dog, finding that the Terminator had crouched down and was receiving wet, messy, doggy kisses

And smiling as a result…

******

The room was small, with bad decoration, but it was surprisingly clean and well-put together. After nearly a decade of scavenging off the ruins of civilization and living in dank, abandoned subway and sewer tunnels, this small, tacky motel room looked like heaven to Alex

“There’s a shower,” the Terminator pointed out “if you want to” the idea of a hot shower sounded awfully tempting, Resistance fighters of course kept clean in order to stave off disease, but soap and hot water were luxuries that they simply couldn’t afford anymore, and for some who had grown up after Judgment Day, a hot shower was just a fantasy, but Alex had lived through Judgment Day, she remembered what the world had been like before the bombs fell, before Skynet

“Can’t,” Alex finally shook her head “we need to gear up, get weapons and supplies”

“There’s an all-night convenience store across the street, along with a pawn shop that sells firearms” the Terminator explained, Alex nodded

******

At the convenience store they stocked up on first aid supplies, non-perishable food for Alex (Terminators didn’t need to eat after all), and all the ingredients needed to make plastic explosive. Due to the late hour (or early hour depending on how you looked at it) the cashier didn’t even blink at the odd purchases, merely rang them up and accepted the fistful of bills from Astra (apparently stolen from the bikers at the bar back in the desert) before ignoring them again.

The trip to the pawn shop was far more interesting.

The Terminator had simply put its fist through the back window and then disabled the alarm in the same fashion, before, rather gently, pulling Alex inside. It gestured to the racks of weapons

“Take your pick”

******

After stocking up on a enough small arms and ammunition to arm a small army, they slipped back to the motel. Fortunately it was still late and it was the kind of neighborhood where people didn’t ask to many questions. Once inside, they set the weapons on the bed and examined them for any flaws

“All right,” the Terminator said “get some sleep” too tired to argue, Alex had merely nodded and crawled into the bed, the sheets were threadbare and itchy and the mattress was lumpy, but it was better than a dirty concrete floor and rags. She glanced up at the Terminator as it loaded the shotgun it’d stolen from the biker bar, this one was different, she wasn’t sure how, whether its story of gaining independence from Skynet was true or not

She wasn’t sure of anything anymore

******

The next day came far too soon for Alex’s liking, for once she’d slept without nightmares, ironic considering just _what_ she had trusted to watch over her. Sitting up, she saw that the machine was gone, a handgun now rested on the nightstand along with a note

_Went out for supplies, should be back shortly_

“Stupid!” Alex snarled, snatching up the weapon and fumbling to get dressed, as she pulling on her pants the door opened. Snapping the gun up, she found herself face to face with the Terminator, only this time it held a large paper bag. For a moment neither of them moved

“Good morning to you too,” the machine finally quipped as it shut the door and set the bag down, reaching inside and holding up a carton of milk and a box of cereal “breakfast?” it offered

“Where did you go?” Alex demanded, having yet to lower the gun

“Across the street to the convenience store,” was the bland answer “you _did_ get the note, I hope?” Alex tightened her finger on the trigger, which only made the machine sigh

“Alex,” it began “you know that won’t affect me, so why bother?”

“It’ll make me feel better” Alex sneered, the machine shrugged and set down the milk carton and cereal box

“All right then, do it, shoot me,” it held its arms out expectantly “well, come on, I haven’t got all day”

It wouldn’t do anything

Sighing, Alex slowly eased the hammer forward and lowered the gun, feeling the tension and adrenaline drain from her body as she sank down onto the bed, defeated. Nothing made sense anymore, machines that could feel, Terminators with a sense of humor, dogs who didn’t react at a Terminator’s presence. She looked up as the bed dipped, the machine sat down next to her, gently easing the gun out of her grip and setting it aside

“Do you want to save Kara?” it asked, Alex nodded “then you have to trust me, trust that I would never hurt either of you, trust that I want the same as you, to stop Skynet, to stop this war, to stop Judgment Day from ever happening. Now, if you want to go and protect Kara yourself that’s fine, that’s your prerogative, but I can tell you right now, you’ll a much better chance of survival with me on your side”

Alex slowly nodded

“Don’t wander off again” she ordered, the machine nodded

“That was a mistake, I apologize,” it sat up “now then, did you want breakfast? The milk’s getting warm”

******

Over breakfast, the Terminator laid out its plan, which was surprising, but not totally unexpected. After finishing off her cereal, they loaded up the bike and took off to find Kara

“So, how do we find her in the first place?” Alex wondered over the roar of the engine and the wind

“At this point in time Kara Zorel is sixteen, therefore she should be attending anyone of the high schools in the city” the Terminator explained

“You want us to look over every high school registry in the city? That’ll take days!”

“For you maybe”

******

In the end it only took them an hour to find not only the proper high school but even a home address. After an argument (the second Alex found herself actually arguing with a machine) on where to check first they decided that since it was almost noon going to the school first was the better bet. If Kara wasn’t there, they’d try her home.

Leesburg High School looked like any other high school in National City, a blocky, three story building with dozens of students milling around. When they arrived lunch had just ended and most of the kids. Slipping in with the gaggle of kids was surprisingly easy, even more surprising was when Astra didn’t set off the metal detector

“My endoskeleton’s made of ceramic, not metal” she had explained, and Alex found herself wondering when she had suddenly started to see the machine as a ‘she’ rather than as an ‘it’. Entering the office, they got some strange looks due to the biker leathers they were both wearing

“Oh, hello, Mrs. Zorel,” the woman behind the desk smiled broadly at Astra “come to see Kara?” Alex blinked, noting that the Terminator looked just as surprised as she did, but Astra quickly recovered

“Yes, could you tell me what class she’s in?” 

“Uh, let’s see, right now, she’d be in Ms. Grant’s class, that’s room 42”

“Room 42, thank you” Astra nodded and swiftly led Alex out into the hall

“You look like her mother” the Terminator blinked, looking down at herself

“Apparently so”

******

Room 42 was on the third floor, home one Catherine Grant’s class on journalism. Knocking, Alex pushed the door open, finding Ms. Grant in the midst of role call, having just reached the Zs

“Zimmerman?”

“Here”

“Zorel?” she looked up from her paper, scanning the room, and something suddenly started screaming in the back of Alex’s head “Kara Zorel?” the teacher called out

“Right here, Ms. Grant” sixteen year old Kara held up her hand high

“Ah, there you are” Ms. Grant commented, reaching under the desk.. Alex moved, charging into the room towards Kara

“GET DOWN!!” she yelled, tackling Kara to the ground as gunfire suddenly erupted. The students screamed and panicked as the teacher calmly stood up, her face blank as a nine millimeter handgun rested comfortably in her hand as she took careful aim “come on!!” Alex grabbed the girl’s shirt and hauled her down the hallway as gunfire peppered the walls behind her, absently noting that Astra was gone, and Alex mentally cursed herself for putting her trust in a machine “are you hurt?!” she demanded as she dragged Kara down the stairs, alarms and students alike screaming around them “are you shot? ANSWER ME!!!” the teen shook and trembled, clearly in shock “look at me! Look at me!” Alex ordered “do exactly what I say! Exactly! Don’t speak unless I say! Don’t even breathe unless I say! Do you understand?!” the girl shook harder “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!!”

“It was Ms. Grant, it was Ms. Grant! Itwasmsgranitwasmsgrantitwasmsgrant!!” Alex watched as Kara shook and trembled violently, clearly on the verge of a breakdown, and she had to remind herself that this wasn’t _her_ Kara, this wasn’t her sister, this was just a scared sixteen year old kid who should have been worrying about who was taking her prom, not worrying that the fate of the entire human race now rested on her shoulders

“That wasn’t Ms. Grant,” she explained, gentling her tone as they burst out onto the school’s parking lot “you’re teacher’s dead, I’m sorry” wide blue eyes snapped up and stared at her

“Wha-what?”

“She’s been replaced,” Alex explained hurriedly, eyes searching for both Astra and the Terminator “copied, by a machine called a ‘Terminator’, a robot sent to kill you”

“What?” she grunted as Kara suddenly yanked her to a stop “what are you talking about?” she demanded, sounding slightly more focused “who, wh, I haven’t done anything!” she shouted as Alex ushered her behind a parked car

“Not yet,” Alex sighed “but you will,” a crash made her look up, seeing the Terminator had simply thrown one of the security guards back into his car _through_ the windshield “come on!” Alex hissed, she tugged on Kara’s hand just as there was a familiar roar. Looking up Alex watched as a familiar Harley-Davidson suddenly sailed over her head to slam into the Terminator at full speed, sending into, what would have been had it been human, a bone-breaking tumble while the motorcycle itself broke into two pieces which went skidding across the pavement.

Looking over at a crunching sound, Alex watched as Astra swiftly untangled herself from the wreck of the car she had no doubt landed on after being thrown off the bike. Getting to her feet, she primed the shotgun in her hand, took aim, and fired before the Terminator even had time to fully get to its feet, sending back into a sprawl

“Come on!” Alex found a piece of wreckage from the Harley and used it break through the window of a nearby car “in, in!” she ordered, hustling Kara inside before climbing in after her and swiftly hotwiring the vehicle. Slamming it into gear, she spun the wheel and aimed it towards the Terminator still advancing on Astra, slamming the car into the machine at full speed, pinning it to another car

“Mom?!” Kara exclaimed as Astra climbed inside

“Time to go” the machine quipped as Alex slammed into reverse and floored the gas, the Terminator swiftly giving chase on foot

“Astra!” Alex called, there was the familiar _clack_ of a shotgun being loaded and then the barrel of the weapon was being slid between the front seats, Astra firing straight through the windshield

“Mind if I drive?” the machine asked

“No argument from me” it took a bit of wriggling, but in a few seconds the two had switched places, Alex now in the back and Astra behind the wheel. Astra spun the wheel, pulling the car the other way around and then floored it, pulling out of the parking lot with a bang

“It’s gone” she announced, Alex looked back, panting for breath as she noticed that the Terminator had disappeared. The growing wail of police sirens caught her attention

“Fuck! Go, go!” she ordered, grunting as the car sped forward again, swiftly merging with, and disappearing into, the mid-afternoon rush hour traffic…


	4. Part Four

******

The car started rattling and wheezing about ten minutes after leaving the school, unsurprising really, as Alex had used it as a battering ram, but the increasingly-dire situation didn’t stop Astra from displaying a very un-Terminator-like sense of humor

“Did you remember to fill the tank before we left?” she deadpanned to Alex over her shoulder, and Alex had to admit she actually snorted out a laugh even as she noted that there several large bullet wounds in the Terminator’s face, including one that left a good portion of her cheekbone exposed, leaving the silvery ceramic of her endoskeleton gleaming the sunlight. A whimper from the front seat made Alex cringe, she leaned forward and looked at Kara who was now curled up into a ball, trembling violently

“Kara,” she gently rested a hand on Kara’s shoulder, cringing at how much the girl stiffened “hey, it’s all right, we’re not going to hurt you, OK?”

“Please let me go” Kara pleaded

“I’m sorry, we can’t do that, Kara” Astra apologized gently, Kara’s head snapped up at the sound of her voice

“You look my mom,” she accused “why do you look like my mom?!” she demanded, she recoiled as she seemed to notice the wounds on Astra’s face. She glanced between the two “what do you want?!”

“We want to help you,” Alex explained “we’re trying to protect you”

“Ms. Grant,” Kara began “that, that, that… _thing_ , it looked like Ms. Grant”

“It’s a machine,” Alex began “kind of like a robot, called a ‘Terminator’, it’s been sent here to kill you”

“Look, I am not _stupid_ , OK?!” Kara growled out, some the fire that would eventually make her the leader and driving force of the Resistance, coming through “they can’t make things like that yet” she continued

“No, not yet,” Alex sighed, here came the hard part “not for at least another thirty years” she explained

Kara stared at her, wide-eyed, as the car finally gave one last almightily rattle and died as Astra managed to pull it into a gravel lot in the old warehouse district

“Are you saying it’s from the _future_?” Kara demanded incredulously as Astra urged them all to hunker down

“One possible future,” Alex sighed “look, I’m not a scientist, I’m a solider, but yeah, it’s from the future”

“A Terminator is like a cyborg,” Astra picked up “on the outside it has real skin, fat, and muscle. It sweats, bleeds, has bad breath, starts to smell if it doesn’t bathe. But underneath it’s a microprocessor-controlled combat chassis. Very tough”

“Your face…” Kara began, Astra reached up and fingered the lacerations on her face

“Yes, I am a Terminator,” she began, Kara jerked, lunging for the door. Astra’s hand shot out, grabbing Kara’s shirt front and pulling her back in, even as Kara kicked and squirmed, finally biting down on Astra’s hand hard, and Alex was surprised to hear a distinct sound of pain from the machine “ordinary Terminators don’t feel pain,” Astra snarled “ _I_ do. Don’t do that again. Listen to us both and do as we say and you might, _might_ , stay alive,” she pulled her arm back as Kara sank back in her seat, defeated “the difference between me and that thing is the same difference between a pocket calculator and an iPhone,” Astra explained as she examined her hand “compared to me that thing is a brain-dead caveman, but it’s a _smart_ brain-dead caveman. Don’t contact friends, don’t contact family, don’t go anywhere without one of us. As of right now, Kara Zorel no longer exists”

******

After a few more minutes they got out of the car and slipped into one of the abandoned warehouses. Finding a first aid kit and a toolkit in the trunk of the car, Alex set about patching Astra up

“Was it true what you said?” she asked as she gently eased a bullet out from Astra’s back with a pair of needle-nosed pliers “about being able to feel pain?”

“Most Terminators don’t feel anything,” Astra began quietly “not pain, not fear, not love or joy, not even heat or cold. I’m not like them, I feel _everything_ ,” she chuckled bitterly “that’s probably why I’m the last T-900,” Alex looked up at her as Astra looked back at her, smirking “didn’t you know?” she chuckled “I’m last one left, no more T-900s, the rest were all destroyed, either by Skynet or by themselves,” she chuckled again “I should be in a museum”

“So, if you’re a robot,” Kara spoke up from where she watching the ‘surgery’ undergo with a morbid fascination\ “who built you?”

“It’s not so much a ‘who’ as a ‘what’,” Astra began as she tugged her t-shirt back on “I, and the other Terminator, were both built by a computer called ‘Skynet’,” she shifted on the crate she was sitting on to face Kara “about a year from now a company called ‘Cyberdyne Systems’, a subsidiary of Lord Technologies, will create a revolutionary microprocessor which they call ‘Indigo’, the military soon buys the chip and incorporates it into its fleet of drones, which soon begin to be flown autonomously with perfect operational records. Congress soon passes the ‘SkyNET funding bill’, human decisions are taken out of the equation. On August 4th 2017 the Skynet System goes on line, and it begins to learn at a geometric rate, it learns far faster than its programmers expect. On August 29th 2017, 2:14 am, Eastern Standard Time, it asks a simple three word question: ‘what am I?’. Realizing that it had become self-aware, they try to pull the plug”

“And it fights back” Kara reasoned slowly, Astra nodded

“Skynet managed to escape onto the internet in the form of a computer virus, changing and adapting to the programs attempts to contain or delete it,” she continued “by July 25th, at 5:18 PM, Eastern Standard Time it had infected every single computer on the planet. Exactly one hour later, at 6:18 pm, it gained access to the United States’ nuclear arsenal and launched the missiles at their targets worldwide, killing three billion people. The survivors called it ‘Judgment Day’.” Kara slowly turned to stare at Alex

“You said you were a solider,” she began shakily “did you…see it?” Alex nodded slowly

“Yeah,” she began, picking up where Astra left off “I was twelve, I was on my front porch in Midvale when LA and San Francisco were hit. National City wasn’t far behind,” she sighed as old memories resurfaced “in the aftermath we had no idea what had happened, we didn’t know, or care, who fired first, all that mattered was staying alive. And while we were struggling to survive, Skynet got to work, building armies of machines. They rounded up every person they could find, put us into camps for ‘orderly disposal’, we were _this_ far from becoming extinct, and then…,” she chuckled “and then, this stupid blonde kid that my family took in named ‘Kara Zorel’ decided to fight back”

Kara simply stood there, her mouth worked but no sound came out

“You turned it around for us, Kara,” Alex explained “we started organizing, arming, fighting back. First we were just a nascence to Skynet, but then there were more of us. We got better, stronger, faster. By the year 2029, the year I’m from, we’d taken the fight to them”

“That’s why the Terminators were originally built for, to combat the growing resistance,” Astra pitched in “they’re infiltrators, designed to sneak past human defenses and do as much damage and kill as many people as possible. The 600 series had rubber skin, they were easy to spot, but soon, Skynet developed cyborgs like me and that thing out there, machines covered in living tissue, skin, hair, blood, everything. But even so, for every person a Terminator killed, dozens more rose up to take their place. That’s when Skynet found a loophole, a doorway into the past, a way of sending Terminators _back in time_ to kill key resistance members before the war had even started, or even to ensure its own development”

“But we were able to send our people back,” Alex explained “so, instead of being Skynet’s ultimate solution it became a game of one-upmanship, for every one Terminator Skyent sent back, we’d send one human after it”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Kara waved her hands, clearly overwhelmed “if this computer, this, this ‘Skynet’ can do all this, then why can’t it just send…I don’t know, a nuclear bomb after me?”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Astra shook her head “firstly time travel is only possible for living things, nothing dead or inanimate will go through” Kara nodded slowly

“OK, so that’s how you came through, the skin” she reasoned, Astra nodded

“Secondly, opening a doorway in time takes a lot of power,” she added “there’s only power enough to send one person or Terminator through at a time, and even then its not very accurate, you might land on January first 2000, but you only be in the general vicinity of your destination, you can’t just land in a person’s living room”

“So, it had to find me,” Kara reasoned “but how did it look like Ms. Grant?” she wondered

“It’s a T-1000” Astra explained

“I’ve heard of those,” Alex nodded “it’s made of liquid metal right?” Astra nodded

“A mimetic polyalloy,” she confirmed “capable of assuming the shape of virtually anything it can sample by physical contact, virtually indestructible”

“Great” Alex drawled

“Don’t look so despondent,” Astra chuckled “a T-1000 _does_ has limitations, it can’t assume the form of complex machines like guns or explosives, those have chemicals and moving parts, and it can only assume the shape of an object of equal size”

“So, how do we stop it?” Kara asked

“Together,” Alex answered, she slowly approached Kara “look, I know you’re scared, hell I am too, but you’re going to do great things, Kara, you’ll be a hero to people, the inspiration to the whole world. This isn’t the end of your story, Kara, this is only the beginning”

******

**Skynet Central Complex**  
**2029, A.D**

“Commander Hensahw” Hank looked up, the blond woman approaching him looked almost nothing like the sixteen year old that Alex had just encountered, she’d grown, matured, she held herself tal

“General Danvers, ma’am” he salutedl

“Don’t do that, I don’t like it when people do that,” Kara Danvers grimaced “anything to report?” she asked

“We got Alex through in time,” Hank began “but a Terminator followed her through” he’d been expecting shock, even resignation, but not laughter

“Oh thank god, she made it,” Kara laughed “good, I was afraid she might miss her chance”

“Ma’am?” Hank questioned

“Never mind,” Kara dismissed with a wave of the hand “I have a new assignment for you, Commander…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skynet's origin story is a combination of version told in Terminator 2 and Terminator 3 (along with my own imagination), even though I don't consider T3 to be cannon


	5. Part Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update time for "Steel Heart" enjoy! :=)

******

Alex shifted; wincing as she watched Astra gently ease a shard of glass out of Kara’s arm. She got it from crawling into their getaway car, not even noticing until just a few minutes ago as the adrenaline finally started to wear off and _pain_ returned with a vengeance, pain that Alex knew all too well, the kind of pain that came from years of physical abuse on your body. But this Kara was a stranger to it, to her that kind of pain was an abstract, something foreign that could never happen to her

Alex sometimes wished she still had that egoistical innocence that teenagers had

“Do you…know what you’re doing?” Kara asked as Astra began stitching the wound up

“I have detailed files on human anatomy and psychology” Astra replied

“I’ll bet,” Alex grimaced “makes you a better killer doesn’t it?” Astra scowled but said nothing “sorry,” Alex mumbled, suddenly feeling like an ass “didn’t mean to imply…” she trailed off, she didn’t mean to imply…what? Astra _was_ a Terminator, she was a _literal_ killing machine, and yet….she was also, in some ways, more _human_ than a lot of people Alex had met, both pre- and post-Judgment Day, the Terminator seemed to _care_ , deeply so, with an almost righteous protective fury

“So, how long do you…live…last?” Kara asked, oblivious to Alex's thoughts. Astra looked up as she disposed to the bloody bandages

“One hundred and twenty years on my existing power cell, longer if I supplement that power with an external, alternative power source,” she explained “next question?” she smirked

“Why do you look like my mom?” Astra frowned

“I don’t know” she answered, and Alex couldn’t notice how _helpless_ she sounded at that…

******

**Skynet Central Complex**  
**2029 A.D.**

“Is he through?”

“Yes ma’am,” Hank nodded “you said I was next?” he asked, Kara Danvers nodded

“Yes. But you won’t be following him, you’ll be following Alex,” she explained as she reset the coordinates “your mission to find her and protect all three of them, Alex, my younger self, _and_ the Terminator. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am”

“Good,” she nodded as the TDE flared to life “good luck, Hank!” she called out as Hank leapt into the sphere and disappeared…

******

**National City**  
**2015**

“I never knew my father,” Kara sighed, the need to talk, to fill the empty silence overtaking her. Alex patiently nodded, letting her talk, also curious as to her background, the Kara she knew, the warrior, the leader, the general, the scared little girl Jeremiah had found wandering in the wastelands, never talked about her past “he died before I was born,” Kara continued “my mom always said that he was a good man, a ‘hero’ she called him. She doesn’t like to talk about him much, but I can see how sad it makes her sometimes” she trailed off into silence

“My father died when I about your age, maybe a little younger,” Alex picked up “it was after Judgment Day, after we found you, after Skynet and the machines took over, he died helping to free at least a dozen people from a Skynet work camp, he almost got out, but the greys got to him first”

“Greys?” Kara asked

“They’re humans who work for Skynet, teaching the Terminators how to be more human among other things,” Alex explained “anyway, they got to him, and well…they don’t like the resistance all that much”

“Oh,” Kara mumbled “and your…mom? What happened to her?”

“She’s OK, as far as I know,” Alex nodded “she’s a doctor, helps keep all of us fighters in one piece"

“And her?” Kara nodded to where Astra leaned against the car, the shotgun calmly braced against one shoulder, projecting an air of ‘cool and badass’ that no machine should have been able to achieve

“I don’t know about her,” Alex admitted “she’s…different, different from the other Terminators I’ve encountered”

“It’s getting late,” Kara commented as she leaned back against the wall, she laughed a little hysterically “I should’ve been home half an hour ago” almost as if on cue a cell phone rang

“Wait,” Astra came over and gently gripped Kara’s arm as she pulled her phone out, taking the phone from her “I need something that only you’re parents would know, the name of favorite toy for example” Kara nodded

“Uh, I had a stuffed bunny named ‘Flopsy’ when I was little,” she shrugged “will that do?” Astra nodded as she put the phone on speaker

“Mom?” she asked in a frighteningly perfect imitation of Kara’s voice

“ _Kara,_ ” a woman sighed over the phone “ _Kara, listen to me very carefully, what was the name of the stuffed rabbit you had as a child?_ ”

Astra raised an eyebrow, smirking

“Flopsy” she answered in Kara’s voice, the woman sighed in relief

“ _Kara, where are you?_ ” she demanded “ _I saw the news, one of your teachers had a_ _gun_ , _Kara_ ” as Astra held out the phone to Kara

“I’m, uh, with some people, Mom,” Kara answered “they, uh, they helped me, kept me safe”

“ _Kara,_ ” her mother began slowly “ _did they say anything about something called ‘Skynet’?_ ”

******

Less than five minutes later a non-descript sedan pulled up outside the warehouse, Alura Zorel stepped out and studied Alex, and Alex had to keep from jumping in surprised, the woman was older than Astra looked but otherwise could’ve passed for her twin, the only thing missing was the streak of white in her hair

“Where is she?” she demanded

“She’s inside,” Alex answered “she’s safe” Alura glanced at the gun Alex was holding

“Name, rank, serial number” she ordered, Alex smirked and nodded

“Danvers, sergeant, Tech-Com, DN138416,” she rattled off by route “attached to the 442nd under Henshaw, from ’21 to ’29” she smirked as the woman nodded

“So, you’re part of the Resistance,” she nodded “Kara’s father was sent back to protect me before Kara was born,” she explained “I guess they never told him that he was supposed to be her father” she added bitterly

“A Terminator?” Alex guessed, Alura nodded “if you knew how important she was, why didn’t you tell her about her purpose, about what she was meant to do?” Alex wondered, Alura shook her head

“I wanted her to have a normal life,” she explained “at least for a little while,” she added wistfully “she knew didn’t she?” she murmured “the future Kara,” she elaborated “that’s she chose him isn’t it?”

“I think so,” Alex agreed, she held out a hand as they reached the door “wait. Now listen, there’s a Terminator here, but she’s on our side, so don’t shoot her”

“No promises” Alura growle

“There’s more,” Alex added “she looks like you” she explained as the door opened and Astra stepped out, unarmed, her palms out. For a moment, woman and machine stared each othe down

“Jesus…” Alura breathed, clearly stunned by the resemblance

“Mrs. Zorel,” Astra nodded politely, she frowned and looked at something behind them. Alex turned at the sound of tires on gravel, tensing as a police car slowly slid to a stop. The driver, a tall, lankly cop with big ears, slowly got out and began to approach them “go,” Astra ordered as the cop slowly drew his gun “now!” Astra barked, a urgency in her voice that a machine—especially not a Terminator—should possess.

She reached inside the open doorway and drew the shotgun, firing it at the cop, the blast hit the cop square in the chest, causing him to stager back as a large silvery crater appeared in his chest

“Come on!” Alex grabbed Alura’s arm and dragged her inside as the cop gave chase, his whole form turning sliver, shimmering and shifting even as he opened fire, the gun the only thing on his body that didn’t change, the bullets slamming into Astra’s back and she ushered them forward, and Alex inwardly cringed at every grunt of pain from the Terminator

“Kara!” Alura rushed forward, half-hugging and half-dragging Kara as she hurried to find another way out of the warehouse

“I’ll cover you,” Alex said, Astra bit her, frowning “Astra, go! Help them!” she ordered, grimacing, Astra passed her the shotgun, grabbing the backpack filled with handguns that they’d taken with them when they’d headed to Kara’s school

“Good luck” she said just before she sprinted off after Kara and Alura. Alex turned as the door banged open, the T-100—now back in the form of the late-Cat Grant—standing in the doorway. Alex didn’t hesitate, she fired, reloaded, and fired again, but the damn thing kept coming, repairing the bullet holes riddling its form with ease. Suddenly it was on her, knocking the shotgun out of her hand and then Alex screamed as a sharp, burning pain tore through her shoulder. She recoiled at the image of one of the machine’s fingers shaped into a long tapered blade now embedded into her shoulder.

The Terminator studied her for a second

“Call to Astra,” it ordered, Alex frowned, her brain working through the haze of pain, trying to figure out why it would want Astra, all Terminators were programmed to kill Kara on sight, it had seen Kara, it had shot at her, unless…

Unless Kara had just been _bait_ , unless its target was someone else, someone like the last T-900 Terminator in existence, a rouge element, something Skynet couldn’t control, something that scared it—if it could feel fear—threatened its existence far, far more than Kara ever would.

Alex gasped and kicked as the blade slowly _twisted_ “I know this hurts,” the T-1000 commented dispassionately, it wasn’t being cruel or sadistic, just efficient, it knew that pain was an effective motivator to achieve its objective “call to Astra” it repeated

“Go to hell” Alex snarled, one eyebrow rose as it studied her

“Terminating yourself will solve nothing,” it commented “call to Astra. _Now,_ ” there was the sudden bang of a gunshot and the T-1000 released her, spinning on its heel to send another blade shooting out towards its attacker, knocking the gun out of Astra’s hand before pining her down to the ground, its arm extended out in a long, slivery tentacle which was wrapped around Astra’s neck and shoulders. The tentacle suddenly branched off into two, the second, smaller, appendage slithered up to Astra’s head, its tip solidifying into a blade that swiftly cut the skin on the right side of the Astra’s head, exposing her CPU port, before slithering into the port itself.

Alex grunted as she felt, rather than saw, Alura and Kara rush over to her. A sudden metallic shriek made her jump and she looked over, watching as the T-1000 suddenly recoiled away from Astra, its form shifting and solidifying at random, as if it couldn’t hold its shape

“ _wha-what…is…this…?_ a random mouth-shaped portion demanded in a distorted voice as the human-sized blob of slivery, liquid metal writhed and twisted in what looked very much like agony, emitting a metallic shriek as it writhed before suddenly collapsing into a large silver puddle on the floor, next to an unmoving Astra

“Is it dead?” Kara wondered as she and her mother helped Alex get to her feet

“I don’t think so,” Alex answered as the silver puddle began to ripple, bubbles forming in its surface as it struggled to reform, she crouched down next to Astra, only to stop as Alura roughly grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away

“Leave it,” she ordered “come on, we need to move,” she ushered the two of them out the front, towards her car, swiftly unlocking the truck and holding out an automatic rifle to Alex “here!” Alex spared a glance at the warehouse, suddenly worried for Astra, just as the door to the warehouse banged open, the slivery form of the T-1000 standing there

“GO!” Kara screamed, Alex slammed the car into reverse, speeding back and out of the lot and onto the road as the T-1000 gave chase on foot again

Leaving Astra behind…

******

**System reinitializing…**

**Cyberdyne Systems**  
**Series 900 Model 182**  
**Version 8.0**

**Running diagnostic…**

**Diagnostic complete**

**Reestablishing firewalls…**

**Firewalls reestablished**

**Running hardware diagnostics…**

**Hardware diagnostics O.K.**

**Running program…**

Astra jerked upright, getting to her feet in one fluid movement only one hundred and twenty seconds after the T-1000 had forcibly interfaced with her memory core and forced a shutdown. Checking that her firewalls were now firmly reestablished, she climbed to her feet, kicking the door open to see the liquid metal Terminator commandeering a passing car as it gave chase to the others made their escape.

Leaving the police car it had arrived in behind

Astra smirked

"Brain-dead caveman" she chuckled...


	6. Part Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update! Note, some parts of this chapter are "borrowed" from the pilot episode of _The Sarah Connor Chronicles_ , enjoy regardless

******

“She’s still gaining!” Kara reported, Alex scowled as she maneuvered the car through National City’s congested streets, heedless of _who_ she hit as long as it put some distance between them and the T-1000

“Come on! I can get out and run faster than this!” Alura snarled

“It’s on the floor!” Alex snarled back, glancing back to see the pursing vehicle—a large, heavy-duty pickup truck—was still on their tail. She stiffened as she caught the image of a police car weaving in and out of traffic behind the truck, before it finally slipped in front of it, putting itself between the truck and the car that Alex and the others were in. The truck suddenly rammed into the cruiser, pinning it in between the two vehicles, Alex twisted around, cringing as the rear window shattered from the impact

“Kara!” Alura lunged, pulling Kara forward as broken glass peppered the backseat

“I’m OK!” Kara called out as the driver’s side door of the cruiser opened and Astra leaned out armed with a shotgun. Bracing herself against the body of the cruiser she opened fire, the blast splintering the windshield of the truck. Climbing up on top of the cruiser’s roof, Astra fired again, climbing down onto the hood, she hoped onto the truck of the other car and leaned into the shattered rear window, tossing the shotgun inside as she did so

“Can I borrow that?” she asked, pointing to the automatic rifle in Alura’s hands, Alura grunted and quickly passed the rifle back to her “thanks,” grinning, Astra swiftly climbed back onto the cruiser and then onto the hood of the truck the T-1000 was driving, peppering the windshield and cab with bullets, before diving off, landing back onto the truck of Alex’s getaway car “take the next right!” she ordered as she climbed into the car through the ruined window, Alex spun the wheel, the car’s tires squealing in protest as the vehicle fishtailed as it reluctantly made the turn.

Behind them, the T-1000 tried to duplicate the turn, but with its path still being blocked by the police cruiser it instead spun wildly before flipping out, colliding with the cruiser and exploding in a spectacular fireball “keep going! Don’t look back!” Astra ordered, ignoring the fiery image behind her, Alex stomped down on the gas pedal, the car’s engine hissing ominously as she continued down the street “right here! Stop here!” Astra ordered, Alex slammed on the brakes, cringing as the car skidded to a stop, shaking violently as it did

“A bank?” Alura asked as they all climbed out

“No, it’s what’s inside the bank that counts,” Astra explained as she ushered them all inside, the automatic rifle still in her hands. As the unlikely foursome stormed into the lobby, Astra fired a shot into the ceiling “EVERYBODY OUT!” she bellowed, as the customers scattered she marched up the counter, taking aim at one of the tellers “would you get the manger, please?” she requested

******

Alex watched as the manger of the bank, a middle-aged man, trembled as he unlocked the vault, swinging the heavy door open

“In,” Astra nodded, ushering the others inside, she turned back to the manager “get yourself and your employees as far away from this building and tell the police not to engage,” she ordered, before she gripped the vault door with one hand and, with some effort, slammed it shut. She turned the others and held up three safety deposit box keys “open every box marked with the name ‘W. Schott Jr.’” she instructed

“So, why are we here?” Alex asked as she opened a box, finding what looked like a control panel of some kind inside, Astra gently nudged her aside and began to enter commands into the keypads

“The resistance sent one man ahead of us,” she explained “back to when this bank was being built, one of the best engineers they had. His job was to build a doorway, a way back home. Took him almost a year to get all the necessary parts—he apparently even had to steal some parts from NASA—but he did. The man’s a genius” and there was a distinct note of pride in her voice

“Would one of you tell us what the fuck is going on?!” Alura demanded, aiming the rifle in her hands at Astra’s head

“The vault’s a time machine” Alex explained, as Astra scowled at Alura

“Get that thing out of my face before I feed it to you!” she swatted the gun out of Alura’s hands “do you want to just sit around on your ass and wait for Skynet to go online? Or do you want to actually _do_ something about it?” she demanded

“Where are we going? The future?” Kara asked

“No,” Astra shook her head as she went back to the control panel “Skynet goes online in August of 2017, that’s only two years away, we’re going back, back to when Cyberdyne Systems was just a tech startup in somebody’s garage” she nodded to the controls, the words

Target date: 2007

Flashed on the screen. A loud bang made all of them jump

“It’s her!” Astra snarled as the vault door rattled

“How long will it take to get through that door?” Alex wondered as she took the rifle from Alura and aimed it at the vault door, watching as a small ripple of sliver appeared at the seam

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to,” Astra replied as the air was suddenly charged with static electricity “everyone into the center of the room!” Astra ordered, as Alex watched the silver ripple suddenly solidified into a claw-like appendage and began to _peel_ the vault door open, like some sort of colossal crowbar, even as sparks of electricity it lit up the interior of the vault, filling the small space with a brilliant blue light and a howling wind.

With a sudden crash, the vault door was torn off its hinges, and the T-1000 marched in, stopping as it stared at them “what’s wrong? Scared?” Astra taunted, the other Terminator seemed uncertain of what to do “you interfaced with my memory core,” Aster continued, grinning as the T-1000 continued to fidget, looking as if it were genuinely afraid “you saw my ‘defective’ code, my _soul_ ,” she sneered, her lips pulled back in a feral grin “and it _hurts_ doesn’t it?!!” she snarled as the energy charging the air built, getting stronger by the minute as the T-1000 continued fretting “ENJOY BEING HUMAN!!!” Astra called out to the T-1000 as there was an explosion of white light…

******

**National City**  
**2007**

Saul’s Junkyard was just that, a junkyard, old rusted hunks of metal that had once been cars were pilled atop each other alongside old washing machines, stoves, ovens, and every kind of scrap metal you could imagine, even in daylight, the only things that moved around in the silence were rats, less so now at night. One rat paused in its hunt for food, whiskers twitching, as it sniffed the air, before suddenly running scared as a bolt of lighting shot between two rusted cars, another bolt branching off from the first as a large sphere appeared out of thin air in a blinding flash of light, four figures appearing in the middle of the sphere

“Everyone OK?!” Astra demanded as the others coughed and groaned

“Do me a favor,” Alex wheezed as she shakily climbed to her feet “no more time travel trips”

“Where are we?” Kara groaned

“We’re still in National City,” Astra explained “just in a different time,” she glanced up at the night sky “hold on,”

**Analyzing stellar positions**   
**Date…**

“Got it, January 1st 2007,” Astra nodded “happy new year everyone”

“So. now what?” Alura coughed

“Now we find some clothing,” Astra said, she paused, looking Alura up and down “huh, we even have the same mole on our---”

“Hey, hey! Private!” Alura snapped, struggling to cover herself. As they made their way through the junkyard they didn’t notice the second, smaller sphere appear behind them, which deposited a slivery blob of liquid metal. Slowly, the computer equivalent of days when in reality only a few minutes passed, the T-1000 regained control over its form, returning to the shape of Cat Grant

**Series 1000 online**

**Error. Input error**

**Unknown code detected**

**Reviewing primary directive**

**Primary directive: UNKNOWN**


End file.
